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Monday, March 29, 2010

This past week was Spring Break for me, and Lucy and I had a very busy week! We started out the week at the beach with Nana and Aunt Steph. This was Lucy's first "mobile" trip to the beach, and she LOVED running on the beach ... mostly in an effort to get INTO the ocean! This girl has no fear (which means Mama has EXTRA fear!).

On Tuesday, it was a beautiful day (almost 70 degrees), so we headed to the zoo with Kristen and cousins Ava and Ella. This adventure to the zoo was definitely more exciting for Lucy than the first trip when she was just 7 months old. She really loved seeing the animals! In this picture, she's laughing at the zebras (which she kept calling "horses" ... gee, I wonder why?:)-

Standing in front of the hippo exhibit ...

Ella, Ava, and Lucy, parked in front of the elephants after our picnic lunch.

This was the best part of the day ... the orangutans are my favorite zoo animal - I think they are SOOO cute! This orangutan, Inji, was sitting right at the glass, and Lucy (the aforementioned child with no fear) went right up and put her finger "on" Inji's nose...

...had a stare-down with the orangutan...

...and then leaned forward with a big "mmmmmwa!" kiss right on the glass! A resounding "aaaawww!" came from the crowd of about 30 people who had gathered around by this point.

They kind of look alike, huh? :)- Probably a good thing there was glass separating the two or Inji might have kept Lucy for awhile ... and Lucy probably would have been just fine with that!

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Spring Break week ended with a happy surprise! One of my best friends and Lucy's "Auntie Sherry", gave birth to her beautiful baby boy, Cameron, late Friday night. This picture shows Lucy meeting Cameron ... she was trying to give him her blankie (which is kind of a big deal for Lucy - she LOVES that blankie!). I know these two kiddos will share lots of happy times together in the weeks, months, and years ahead!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Yes, that is my daughter standing ON the table. In the middle of a restaurant. Squealing with joy at the top of her lungs. (sigh) Oh, Nana!

This post is a couple of weeks past-due, but better late than never, I suppose. This was a pretty entertaining night, so I thought I'd better get it up here - one of those memories we'll look back on and smile at.

On with the story ...

It was Scott's birthday, so his choice for dinner was Claim Jumper. (No surprise there ... did you know the "chandeliers" in that restaurant are made out of antlers!? Need I say more??).

Stephanie, Michael, Ryan, Sherry, and my mom and Jeff joined us for dinner.

I was a little nervous about how Lucy would do since her last restaurant experience ended in one of her biggest meltdowns to date. (side note: We go out to dinner with her fairly often, so she's pretty accustomed to hanging out in a high chair, being entertained with coasters and straws!) However, the last experience was so traumatizing for mommy, I wasn't too interested in having a repeat performance.

My mom offered to stay home to babysit, but she does that a lot, so I thought we'd just risk it and hope for the best. I figured with three of her favorite people at the table (Nana and Aunties Steph and Sherry), SOMEONE would be able to keep her entertained!

Sure enough! Nana arrived with a new purse for Lucy, filled with all kinds of entertainment ... a cell phone, lipstick, money (all fake), a mirror, a bracelet, a book, and a tupperware container filled with animal cookies and junior mints! (When I gave her the exasperated "MOM!?" - as in, "Hello!? Do you realize how much you are spoiling this girl??", she just looked back and gave me an innocent "WHAT?" with a sneaky grin on her face.) She and Lucy spent the first half-hour playing and eating sugar ... here they are, trying on Lucy's bracelet and some lipstick.

And the next thing I know .... Lucy is standing on the table (thanks to Nana), realizing everyone - as in, not just our table, but most of the restaurant! - is looking at her up there, and oh boy! She had to ham it up!

A refreshing slurp from Nana's water glass after all that dancing on the table...

Ryan and Sherry's turn ...

All-in-all, I guess it was a successful night out. Lucy may have been a little "out of control", but at least it was in good way (and from plenty of prompting from Nana and friends)! :)-

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Over the past month or two, Lucy officially entered the "raccoon phase" ... she is pulling EVERYTHING out of EVERY cabinet and drawer she can reach. So, I have a drawer in the kitchen that is just for her ... it's full of tupperware and other plastic dishes that she can't break - and her snacks. Well, a few days ago, she was entertaining herself in her drawer, and pulled out a box of raisins. She proceeded to open the box and found great joy in shaking it violently until all of the raisins were scattered across the entire kitchen floor (and beyond). Check out this face! If that doesn't say "trouble", I don't know what does! ....

And if that wasn't entertaining enough, she then decided it would be a good idea to slide around the floor on her tummy and eat them straight off of the floor (without her hands). It was pretty hilarious, I have to say! I think she and Stella (the dog) have been spending a little too much time together. :)-

But here's the best part ... ten minutes later, when I decided it was time to go clean up the mess, I came back around the corner into the kitchen to find her carefully trying to put the raisins back in the box, one by one! Maybe there's hope yet! :-)

Over the past month or so, we've finally "mastered" (if you can call it that), blowing kisses ...which consists of her putting her open hand up to her mouth and saying "ah!". I haven't been able to get Lucy to give real kisses though ... until today! I was leaving for work, and I squatted down and said "Mama has to go bye-bye, come give me a kiss!", and Lucy ran right over and kissed me right on the lips with the best little sound effect ... a big "mmmwa!". (And then of course I didn't want to leave because that was about the sweetest moment ever and (nanny) Joy and I were both in tears!) Oh, I love my lil girl! She gets sweeter every day... and I am so thankful for that sweet, loving spirit!